B2 Chapter 243: Sequential Improvements, pt. 1

Rieker was already waiting for them when they entered the underground training hall. He stood casually, arms crossed over a shirt that was suited to a day at the markets, shooting them an easy grin.

“Well, lads, I hope you’re ready for a rough couple of weeks—you’re all at a precipice, and I intend to push you over it before your next mission,” the guildmaster said, a glint in the man’s eyes setting Kaius’s heart racing.

He smirked back, rolling his shoulders to ready himself for the day ahead.




A pulsing flash visible in his mana sight was the only warning he got, a low powered light beam flickering into place a moment later to intersect with his chest.

It was weak enough it would have done little but warm his skin.

Kaius hurled his Will into the coursing magic of Slip Step, gritting his teeth as he urged the spell to push him out of the world as he lunged forwards.

Reality blurred, and the beam phased harmlessly through his chest.

Ahead of him, Porkchop was waiting in a defensive stance. 

Light and thunder filled the hall as a Stormlash crackled to life in his hand. Whipping the spell forwards, it arced through the air at a breakneck pace—aimed to bind Porkchop around his chest.

Right before his attack could land, a wall of jade erupted from the earth, dissipating his attack at a distance that left crackling secondary streamers unable to reach his brother.

Another beam flashed—this one singeing the scales of his new armour.

The sudden jolt of heat was almost enough to throw off his rhythm. Almost.

Lunging to the side, Kaius slipped around the wall of jade that Porkchop had sent racing towards him a moment after it had blocked his attack.

Spinning into a twirl, he tapped into Drakthar, discharging three spells at once. Writhing blue-white snakes filled the air, and Kaius threw the full weight of his intent and Glass Mind into binding the mystic abilities to his will. Urging them to diverge from the path he had set—to curve through the air around the next wall that Porkchop was actively summoning. 

His magic bucked against him—the runic conduits that dominated Glyphbinding serving as a barrier that blocked his direct connection with the mana within them. 

Still, even with the burdens his chosen style had fostered upon him, he managed. Somewhat.

One lightning bolt jerked high. 

Barely three strides, but it was enough—it skimmed over the top of his brother’s summoned wall to crack against Porkchop’s chest.

Faced with an opposed element, the Stormlash struggled to penetrate his brother’s jade breastplate, much of its potency burning off as it charred the armour’s exterior. 

The potent resonant force imbued in it by Resonance Amplification had no such limitations. 

Porkchop grunted, shards of crystal spalling from his armour to land on the stone floor like a glass rain.

*Ding! Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 100!*

*Ding! Spell available for selection!*

Kaius skidded to a halt, his heart thumping as a wide grin spread across his face. He’d done it! After nearly a week of constant—and contrived—sparring, he’d managed to push his Latent Glyph of Drakthar to the next stage. 

With his focus broken by the skill increase he had been waiting for, he read through the other skills that had increased since the start of his spar.

*Ding! Latent Glyph of Aelina has reached level 86!*




*Ding! Resonance Amplification has reached level 83!*




*Ding! Rapid Adaptation has reached level 90!*




*Ding! Uncanny Dodge has reached level 75!*




*Ding! Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 86!*

A new spell. A massive achievement that would do much to broaden his capabilities.

Stormlash had proven itself a priceless and potent part of his kit, but at its core he knew his class was one designed for flexibility. With only a single damaging spell available to him, he’d felt hamstrung—forced to limit the ways in which he approached combat. 

His latest skill—Mystic’s Rend—went a long way to correct that, but ultimately it was something that amplified his abilities in close combat, and not something that could potentially add a new modality to his offence.

A spell absolutely would. Especially if he was lucky enough to get something that improved his ability to deal with enemies at range.

Excitement fizzing within him, Kaius threw his arms in the air in celebration, a loud laugh spilling from his lips.

“I did it!” he called.

His team grinned back at him—their genuine delight at his latest gain plain as day on their faces. They rushed over, already having expected something significant when he’d lost his focus—a clear sign that their current bout was over.

“Finally! I know Prismatic Shardwall needs work, but it was getting boring letting you wale on me all day.” Porkchop replied, his armor vanishing as he bounded over to butt his head into Kaius’s chest—a move that nearly sent him sprawling.

Ianmus wasn’t far behind, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

“Congratulations—and not just for the new spell. You're getting adept at influencing your spell-hymns; I think you managed to force a skip a good half a dozen times this bout.”

Kaius beamed, glad that his friends were with him to celebrate his victories. It was just a shame that Rieker wasn’t here for the moment—he’d been too busy with his duties to spare them more than an hour that morning.

Still, the people most important to him were here, and he had a spell to pick.

“I’m going to see what I’ve been offered now.” Kaius said, shifting his weight from foot to foot, as if he was readying to physically chase down the object of his excitement.

Seeing his friends’ nods of encouragement, he turned his attention to the waiting notification, and the words of the system spilled across his vision.

Volcanic Expulsion:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Evocation)

Affinity: Magma

Glyph: Drakthar

150 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons a spray of liquid magma in a 20 long-stride cone. The spray continuously erupts for five seconds.




Rexia’s Thorns:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Evocation)

Affinity: Nature

Glyph: Drakthar

90 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons a grasping bramble of vines coated in steel-like thorns that covers region 5 long-strides wide. The vines automatically envelop all targets in reach.




Sonic Scream:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Evocation)

Affinity: Sound, Vibration

Glyph: Drakthar

100 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons an explosive wall of sound in a 40 long-stride cone, penetrating armor and damaging internals.




Hateful Nail:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Evocation)

Affinity: Metal 

Glyph: Drakthar

100 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons a dense spike of metal that launches outwards at high speed. Hardened and pointed, it penetrates armour with ease. Upon impacting a target, the spike rapidly expands into a dense knot of tangled hooks.




Ghostly Knife:

Runic Hymn - Tier I (Evocation)

Affinity: Spectral, Martial

Glyph: Drakthar

70 Mana

Selection Available!

This Hymn summons a spectral blade behind a target within fifty long-strides, where it will strike directly for their undefended back.

Roving over the options provided to him, Kaius immediately focused on a single one. 

All of the spells offered sounded fantastic. In particular, there were two that would provide him with a much needed ability to deal with larger crowds of enemies. Yet
Kaius couldn’t help but feel that they would be the wrong choice.

Sure, they had struggled against the bogglings, and having spells such as Sonic Scream and Volcanic Expulsion would have drastically changed the tides. However, it would have still been an impossible battle all the same. In the vast majority of cases, his bodily strength and skill with his blade was enough to deal with weaker opponents.

As a team, they excelled at taking on singular, powerful, targets. Eventually, he would need to expand from that, but for his current goals that suited perfectly. 

In the far reaches of the Depths, it would be Champions and Guardians that were the truest threats, and he currently lacked something to project his capabilities at range.

From that perspective Hateful Nail was perfect. 

That wasn’t to say it wasn’t without weaknesses. Judging by its wording, there would be little of the spell assisted targeting that he had leaned on so heavily with Stormlash. It would require him to aim, to land his shots. 

Something he was comfortable with—archery and thrown weapons had been a large aspect of his training for Warforged, afterall.

In return, he would gain a long distance attack that sounded down-right devilish in its effects.

A nail that twisted into fish hooks in his opponent's flesh? Hateful, indeed. It would be crippling—agonising—and Kaius was confident that even a non-lethal blow would leave his targets crippled and wide open for a follow up assault.

Afterall, Health couldn’t heal a wound if the object of harm was still lodged deep. 

The only other spell that dragged at him was Rexia’s Thorns. The ability to bind his foes with tearing spines was a tempting one. Bound and immobile, any enemy would be left a sitting duck waiting for his or his brother’s killing stroke.

Still—he was still partial to Hateful Nail. It felt right. Filled a gap in his kit that had been left wanting since he had abandoned his original glyph and left his Arcane Bolt spell and its variations behind. 

All the same, even if he was confident in his selection, there was wisdom in seeking the thoughts of his team.

Blinking away the description of his options, Kaius looked up to his team—an exuberant grin on his face.

He relayed his options, sharing his opinion on his preferred choice and watched the thoughtful expressions of his companions closely.

Ianmus broke the silence first, rubbing his smooth chin as he worked his way through his ideas.

“I think you have the right idea—while I think that you should eventually build on your ability to handle multiple threats at once, for now I think both you and Porkchop can hold off a threat while I work on that wide guillotine lance i used against the bogglings.” he started.

“This Hateful Nail sounds promising. Not just because it will open up avenues for dealing with priority targets at range, but because it will be an impressive tool to weaken strong opponents if you can lodge a spike of twisted metal in their joints to hamper their mobility.” Ianmus finished, nodding in agreement to Kaius’s original musings.

Porkchop chuffed. “What he said—I saw how effective you were with your Arcane Bolts in the Depths. This sounds similar, but more effective in every way.”

Kaius nodded at his team, thanking them for their input.

With them all being in agreement, there was really no reason to stand on ceremony.

Lowering himself to the floor, Kaius sat crossed legged on the cold stone. His other spell selections had come with a period of unawareness, and he had no desire to crack his skull on the floor on the off chance the experience left him sprawling.

Focusing his gaze on Hateful Nail, he made his choice.

And his consciousness fled, the room going black.


.

Gasping, Kaius shot up from the floor, propping himself up with one arm.

Disorientation washed over him, the experience of spending days focusing on learning his latest spell standing in stark contrast to what he knew would have been only a couple of minutes of time elapsing.

“How was it? Learn anything interesting from the runes?” Ianmus asked, offering him a hand to pull him upwards.

Kaius groaned, taking the offered limb and pulling himself up to standing.

“Nothing concrete—but there were definitely some similarities to Stormlash’s construction. Enough that I'll need to spend some time properly comparing them—though I doubt I have enough to start properly inferring how the script works.” Kaius replied.

Much like his other spells, the system had pulled him into a strange liminal space—the office where he was forced to study and practice with the spell-hymn until he knew its shape and structure like the back of his hand.

His latest spell hymn was a compact thing—tightly wound sigils and whorls that were woven into a work that promised pain and destruction. 

All in all, despite the monotony of focusing on its construction to the rejection of all else, Kaius found himself positively fizzing with anticipation to test the Hateful Nail out. As much as he might have wished it, the system had not provided him the means to actually see the spell in action—even when he had succeeded in its demands of perfect and consistent inscription of its many looping lines.

“Shall we get lunch, then? Kaius will need time to recover his mana anyway, so we might as well save testing out the spell, and working on our other skills until then.” Porkchop suggested—they’d gone without food since the darkest hours of the morning, and the emptiness of his stomach was clearly weighing on him.

Kaius nodded. As much as he wanted to see what his latest ability could do, he knew that he needed a break from thinking about the woven knots of his structure before he dived back into inscribing it in truth.

“Let’s do it—we’ll have plenty of time to practice, I doubt that Rieker will give us another mission until we have all hit our goals. Definitely not until I’ve managed to squeeze out the next spell from Aelina, at the very least.” Kaius replied.

Smiling in hungry excitement, they made their way out of the training hall. 

If they were lucky, they might be able to make it back to the Stables in time for one of Hensch’s legendary meals.